study

  • noun (pl. studies) 1 the devotion of time and attention to acquiring knowledge. 2 a detailed investigation and analysis of a subject or situation. 3 a room for reading, writing, or academic work. 4 a piece of work done for practice or as an experiment.

  • verb (studies, studied) 1 acquire knowledge on. 2 make a study of. 3 apply oneself to study. 4 look at closely in order to observe or read. 5 studied done with deliberate and careful effort.

  — PHRASES a study in a good example of (a quality or emotion). in a brown study absorbed in one’s thoughts. apparently originally from brown in the sense gloomy.

  — ORIGIN Latin studium ‘zeal, painstaking application’.

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